Speaking to reporters at the league meetings this morning in Orlando, Giants’ head coach Tom Coughlin said the team will miss defensive captain Justin Tuck, who signed last week with the Oakland Raiders after nine years in Blue:

“We’ll miss Justin Tuck. Period,” Coughlin said.

Last year, Coughlin and DC Perry Fewell named safety Antrel Rolle co-captain along with Tuck, but there appears to be an opening now that Tuck is gone. Some candidates: DE Mathias Kiwanuka and LB Jon Beason.

The coach was asked about how he goes about developing leaders…

“You can coach them. You can teach, you can relate to values, principles. That does help when a guy has inherent skills and he has the personality involved, like a Michael Strahan. Given the individual and the qualities that he brings to the table, you can instruct, you can help him with that with his development.”

Is it the players’ job or does the coach have to establish leadership in the locker room…

“Well, you coach it and you work with it. It’s whether the individual grabs it and runs with it or not. If you have the right people, they do. You’re better off when it’s collective. You have multiple people in the locker room who are convinced they’re on the same page and are all trying to accomplish the same thing.”